Dan Taylor on the fine arts scene.

You usually expect to find the best live music on weekends, but that’s not always the case. This week, the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma offers two visiting acts worth noting, both on weeknights: Titus Andronicus, and Conor Oberst with M. Ward. The New Jersey punk indie rock band Titus Andronicus [...]

Tired from Christmas shopping? Take at break at the movies for free, and help good causes. For the third year, the Santa Rosa Entertainment Group will screen free holiday films all day Wednesday, Dec. 17, at five local theaters. The films and theaters are: "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," Roxy Stadium [...]

Headliners for next year's Country Summer 2015 music festival, to be held June 5-7 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on Santa Rosa, will include Jake Owen on June 5, The Band Perry on June 6 and Brantley Gilbert on June 7. Tickets go on sale at noon Saturday, Dec. 6, [...]

You’re not likely to notice one of Santa Rosa’s newest galleries as you drive down the main drag on Mendocino Avenue, but it’s worth a look. The Corner Store Collective Contemporary Art Gallery opened last summer on Ross Street, the one-way, one-block byway between B Street and Mendocino Avenue. In [...]

When the new superhero feature film "Sparks" screens Friday, March 7, at Santa Rosa’s Roxy Stadium 14 theater, several members of the cast will be on hand. William Katt, star of the early '80s TV series "The Greatest American Hero," will join Clint Howard from the film How the Grinch [...]

Oscar-nominated movies get a lot of attention, but there are some that many movie-goers never get to see. Those are the short films, both animated and live-action, gathered for special release once a year in two separate feature-length packages. Two Sonoma County theaters will show the films, starting Friday, Jan. [...]

If you’ve already gotten an overdose of sugary sentiment this holiday season, you’ll want to check out Santaland Diaries at Main Stage West in Sebastopol. The show is based on David Sedaris' semi-autobiographical account of his job as a Christmas elf at Macy's in New York. It first [...]

The Aubergine Cafe in Sebastopol closed Sept. 30, but the adjacent Aubergine Vintage Emporium clothing store remains open. According to the recorded message on the emporium’s phone, the store’s San Rafael outlet also has closed. No reason for either closure was given. The cafe and nightclub, also known as Aubergine [...]

“Silence,” a two-panel (or dyptich) painting by Healdsburg artist Manok Cohen, will go on display Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the Spinster Sisters restaurant in Santa Rosa. The two panels of “Silence” measure 36 by 48 inches each. Born in Laos to a Vietnamese mother and a French father, [...]

Tickets go sale at 11 a.m. Friday, June 7, for two October shows at Marin Center in San Rafael: Singer and slide guitarist Bonnie Raitt will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 9 at the center, followed by Oct. 24 by the Moody Blues. Tickets cost [...]

About this blog

What is art? Whether it’s oil on canvas or actors on stage, dancers on their toes or comedians doing stand-up, Press Democrat staff writer Dan Taylor covers the fine and lively arts in Northern California. Meet the people, go behind the scenes and get ahead on what’s coming up.